Personal Injury Lawsuits – What You Should Know

December 31, 2025 | Personal injury

Personal injury law and key elements that are good to know.  When one person’s careless or dangerous behavior harms another, the legal system provides a path to hold that person accountable and to make the injured person whole as much as possible.

What is injury law and how does it differ from criminal law?

People often confuse injury law with criminal law because both respond to wrongful behavior. The difference is in purpose and consequence.

• Criminal law focuses on punishment and deterrence by the state. When someone commits a crime, a prosecutor (often the district attorney) brings the case on behalf of the public. The stakes are high: criminal convictions can take away liberty, so the standard of proof is correspondingly strict.
• Injury law (also called personal injury law or tort law) focuses primarily on compensation for victims and secondarily on deterrence. A private party brings a claim seeking money damages for injuries or losses caused by another’s careless or reckless conduct.

Both systems discourage harmful conduct. Criminal law does that through punishment and public safety measures. Injury law does it by shifting the economic burden of injury onto the party responsible and encouraging safer behavior in everyday activities such as driving, manufacturing, and property maintenance.

Who can bring a personal injury claim?

Not everyone can bring every type of claim. The people or entities entitled to sue depend on who was harmed and how.

• The injured person is the obvious plaintiff. If you are hurt because of someone else’s negligence, you can sue to recover your losses.
• Spouses often have derivative claims related to the injured spouse’s losses, such as loss of consortium (a claim for loss of companionship or services).
• Parents and children may have claims for loss of services or other family-related losses, depending on the facts and the jurisdiction.
• Wrongful death claims are brought by the deceased person’s estate and surviving family members when negligence or wrongful conduct causes death.

The heart of most injury cases: negligence

The dominant theory in everyday injury cases is negligence. Negligence asks whether a party failed to act like a reasonably prudent person in similar circumstances, and whether that failure caused harm. Negligence is built from four essential elements that must all be proved for a recovery.

“Duty, breach, proximate cause, and damages.”

Let’s discuss each of these elements and see how they function in practice.

1. Duty

Duty is the legal obligation one person owes another to behave with reasonable care. The specific form of that duty depends on the relationship and the context.

• When you drive a car, you have a duty to operate it with reasonable care: to see what should be seen, to follow traffic laws, and to keep the vehicle under control
• When you own property, you have a duty to maintain it in a reasonably safe condition for invited guests and, in some cases, even for trespassers to avoid foreseeable hazards
• When a professional such as a doctor treats a patient, the doctor has a duty to provide care that meets the standard of a reasonably competent professional in that specialty and geographic area

Duty sets the baseline expectation. If no duty exists between the parties or in the situation presented, a negligence claim cannot succeed.

2. Breach

A breach occurs when someone fails to meet the standard set by the duty. It is a failure to act as a reasonably prudent person would under similar circumstances

Examples:

• A driver texting while driving and missing a red light breaches the duty to drive safely
• A property owner who ignores a broken handrail on a flight of stairs breaches the duty to maintain safe premises
• A manufacturer that ships a product without proper safety warnings or quality control may breach its duty to consumers

Not every mistake or oversight is actionable. The standard is objective: would a reasonably prudent person in the same position have acted differently? If yes, the defendant likely breached the duty.

3. Causation: cause-in-fact and proximate cause

Proving a breach is not enough. The breach must have caused the injury. Causation has two distinct components:

• Cause-in-fact (sometimes called “but-for” causation): But for the defendant’s conduct, would the injury have occurred? If the harm would have happened regardless, the defendant’s breach is not a cause-in-fact
• Proximate cause (legal causation): Was the harm a foreseeable result of the defendant’s conduct and not the result of an independent, unforeseeable intervening act? Proximate cause limits liability to consequences that are reasonably related to the wrongful act

4. Damages

Damages are the measurable harms the plaintiff suffered. Without damages, a negligence claim has no real substance. Courts will not award money solely to punish a breach; there must be an actual loss.

Damages typically fall into several categories:

• Economic damages: Documentable financial losses such as medical bills, lost wages, future medical costs, and property damage
• Non-economic damages: Subjective losses like pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, and loss of consortium
• Punitive damages: Intended to punish especially reckless or malicious conduct and to deter similar behavior in the future. These are not available in most ordinary negligence cases and are awarded only in exceptional circumstances, subject to strict legal limits

All four elements—duty, breach, causation, and damages—must be present and proved by a preponderance of the evidence for a plaintiff to win a negligence claim in civil court.

How courts and juries decide negligence

Negligence determinations are principally questions of fact. That means juries are typically the decisionmakers on whether a duty existed, whether it was breached, and whether that breach caused the plaintiff’s harm.

Judges decide questions of law, such as which legal standards apply, whether certain types of evidence are admissible, and how the law should be explained to the jury. The judge’s explanation to the jury usually comes in the form of jury instructions.

Burden of proof in injury cases

Because injury law is civil rather than criminal law, the burden of proof is lower. The plaintiff must prove their case by a preponderance of the evidence . This means the plaintiff’s evidence must persuade the jury that it is more likely than not—greater than 50 percent likely—that the defendant’s breach caused the injury.

Intent versus negligence

One major distinction between criminal and civil liability is the role of intent. Criminal law often requires proving a specific mental state—intent or recklessness—before convicting someone. In contrast, ordinary negligence does not require intent to harm. It is the absence of reasonable care that matters, not whether the defendant intended the harm.

That distinction affects the language used. In criminal cases, we talk about someone being “guilty.” In civil cases, we say a party is “liable” or “at fault.”

Comparative fault and shared responsibility

Many cases involve shared fault. The injured person may have contributed to the harm. How that shared responsibility affects recovery depends on the jurisdiction’s rules about comparative fault.

What is comparative fault

When a jury determines that multiple parties contributed to an injury, it will typically assign a percentage of fault to each responsible party. That percentage divides responsibility for the damages.

When multiple defendants are involved, each defendant’s share of fault can either reduce the plaintiff’s recovery directly or determine how much each defendant pays. Some states allow defendants to pursue contribution claims against one another to reallocate responsibility among themselves.

What to expect if you are harmed and consider a lawsuit

Filing a personal injury lawsuit is often a step-by-step process with predictable phases. Knowing these phases can help you understand the timeline and the kinds of evidence that matter.

Initial steps

• Seek medical treatment: Your health comes first. Documenting injuries and treatment is crucial both for recovery and for proving damages later
• Preserve evidence: Photographs of the scene and injuries, witness contact information, repair bills, and police or incident reports are key. Preserve any physical evidence if possible
• Consult an attorney: A lawyer experienced in injury law can evaluate whether you have a viable claim, explain the applicable deadlines, and advise on preserving evidence and avoiding missteps

Investigation and pleadings

Once a claim is filed, both sides investigate. This typically includes written discovery (interrogatories and document requests), depositions (sworn testimony taken out of court), and expert analysis. Many cases settle during this discovery phase once liability emerges from the facts.

Settlement or trial

Most personal injury claims settle before trial. Settlement allows parties to resolve the case without the uncertainty, time, and expense of trial. That said, if a fair settlement is not possible, the case proceeds to trial where a jury or judge will decide the disputed issues.

Damages collection

If a plaintiff obtains a judgment, the collection of damages can involve post-judgment procedures if the defendant does not pay. Some judgments are paid voluntarily, others require liens, garnishment, or settlement agreements to enforce the award.

Evidence that helps prove negligence

Effective proof often depends on several types of evidence:

• Eyewitness testimony: Accounts from people who saw the event can be powerful but are also subject to credibility challenges
• Documents and records: Accident reports, medical records, employment records, maintenance logs, and inspection reports are key to proving damages and causation
• Expert testimony: Engineers, medical professionals, accident reconstructionists, and other experts often explain technical issues to the jury, such as how a defect caused an injury or what future medical needs will cost
• Photographs and videos: Visual evidence from the scene, surveillance cameras, or dashcams can be persuasive and hard to refute

Practical tips for people who might have a claim

If you are injured because of someone else’s actions, consider these practical steps:

1. Prioritize medical care: Accurate, timely documentation of injuries and treatment is essential for both health and legal claims
2. Document everything: Take photos, keep receipts, and write down the names and contact information of witnesses while memories are fresh
3. Preserve communications: Save texts, emails, medical bills, repair estimates, and any letters or notices related to the event
4. Be careful with statements: Do not admit fault or downplay injuries when speaking to insurance adjusters or other parties. A brief factual account is fine, but avoid detailed admissions without legal advice
5. Consult an experienced attorney: A lawyer knowledgeable in personal injury can evaluate the claim, explain deadlines for filing, and advise on evidence collection and settlement strategy

Understanding how courts decide negligence, how juries are instructed, and how comparative fault can affect recovery prepares anyone who faces an injury or a potential claim. While every case has its unique facts, the basic principles outlined here will help you evaluate whether a claim exists and what proof matters most.

When harm occurs, the legal system offers a path to accountability and compensation. Knowing the rules improves your ability to protect your rights and to recognize when an event was preventable rather than inevitable.